His Eyes,My Destiny

Chapter 4: The Secret Pack

Alina’s POV

I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. Not after what I saw.

My wrist still tingled where the strange mark had burned itself into my skin—and not just with pain. It felt alive, like it was watching me.

Jaxon had disappeared the moment I woke up. One second he was there, standing like a shadow in my room… the next, gone like smoke. But the words I heard—spoken from the darkness—still echoed in my head:

“She’s been claimed.”

Claimed… by who?

By what?

School was a blur. I didn’t even flinch when Brielle, the icy blonde who hated me on sight, “accidentally” spilled her designer latte on my notes. I couldn’t focus—not on math, not on lunch, not even on Tessa’s whispered warnings about the forest and “pack stuff.”

I finally cornered Jaxon after last period.

“You need to tell me what’s happening,” I demanded, breathless.

He looked like he hadn’t slept either. Shadows under his eyes. Jaw clenched. That same golden flicker dancing behind his gaze.

“You’re not ready,” he said.

I grabbed his arm. “I didn’t ask if I was ready.”

That’s when he finally spoke.

“There’s a pack,” he whispered. “A bloodline older than this town. And you—somehow—you’re part of it.”

I felt the ground shift beneath me.

He went on, slower now. “The mark means you’re bound to me. You’re… my mate.”

My mouth went dry. “That’s not real.”

“It is. You’re tied to my soul, Alina. And if the others find out before I figure out why—they’ll tear you apart just to get answers.”

My knees nearly buckled.

“But why me?” I whispered.

That’s when the wind howled. Literally howled—deep and low from the woods behind the school.

Jaxon went still. His eyes widened.

“No,” he whispered. “They already know.”

I turned toward the trees, just as a pair of eyes—huge, glowing red—emerged from the shadows.

And then the growl came.

Not from Jaxon.

From the thing hunting me.

The last thing I saw before Jaxon shifted—bones cracking, teeth elongating—was his hand brushing mine… and the mark on both our wrists glowing the exact same shape.